Chemical Processing

The majority of the new biopharmaceuticals and those in development today are produced in complex mammalian cell cultures — typically involving tens of biochemical species and hundreds of biochemical reactions. These biologics such as therapeutic…

Leak detection at large chemical sites can be both difficult and expensive. At one Belgian plant, operators were making twice-daily inspection rounds using portable leak detectors — but new and stricter government regulations required continuous…

The majority of the new biopharmaceuticals and those in development today are produced in complex mammalian cell cultures — typically involving tens of biochemical species and hundreds of biochemical reactions. These biologics such as therapeutic…

Emerson appoints Scott Anderson as president for its Control Techniques business unit.

Emerson appoints Scott Anderson as president for its Control Techniques business unit. Anderson leads the business from its headquarters in the United Kingdom where it employs around 650 people, along with an additional 1,000 employees across 55 locations worldwide.
Scott brings 32 years of Emerson experience to Control Techniques. His most recent leadership positions were in Emerson Process Management, where he spent 14 years as president of Rosemount Flow business unit and two years as president responsible for establishing the Lifecycle Services organization for Emerson Process, Flow Measurement group. Prior to that, he worked within Emerson Industrial Automation for 17 years in sales and marketing positions.
For more information,…

Embrace a variety of strategies that can eliminate hazards from operations

Trevor Kletz was able to simplify the concept of inherent safety in such a way that everyone “gets it.” His mantra “What you don’t have can’t leak” is so clear and powerful that it has grabbed the attention of all stakeholders, including…

Looking back at his project I wondered how he ever could foul it up this badly — at least unintentionally. He’d hired an offshore engineering company half-a-world away to save money. He hadn’t carefully defined the material properties, basic engineering document and drawings (BEDD) or the materials of construction. He sought low-bids for the design instead of time-and-material ones. He never reviewed preliminary drawings with manufacturing. Wow, what a mess. Yet the firm I was working for agreed to pick up the pieces — to build the process — without process engineering hours!
Although these situations seldom work out well, there are ways to minimize the damage to your firm and your reputation. Let’s consider the contract…

The Hydraulic Institute (HI), working as part of the Extended Motor Product Label Initiative (EMPLI) consortium, is collaborating on “Designing a Program for Future Incentives for Energy Efficient Pumps and Pumping Systems,” a new data collection effort.

The Hydraulic Institute (HI), working as part of the Extended Motor Product Label Initiative (EMPLI) consortium, is collaborating on “Designing a Program for Future Incentives for Energy Efficient Pumps and Pumping Systems,” a new data collection effort. Data will support a new voluntary labeling initiative for pumps and extended pump products (defined as the pump, motor, drive and controls). The concept is to reflect the energy savings potential of the equipment as installed in motor and control system applications. The development of an “extended-product label” in combination with the data collected will help form the basis for easily implementable prescriptive rebate programs.
End-user participation in submitting pump and load…

Volkmann, Inc. expands its U.S. headquarters, located in Bristol, PA, to include a 750-square-foot dedicated test facility.

Volkmann, Inc. expands its U.S. headquarters in Bristol, PA to include a 750-square-foot dedicated test facility. The laboratory incorporates a range of the company’s VS Series of vacuum conveyors, including the 200, 250, 350 and 450 receiver models, as well as a variety of feed hoppers and the company’s RNT rip and tip hopper. Two 150 foot runs of 1 ½” and 2 ½” conveying lines are available to simulate real world applications in product transfer, and a 20 foot vertical lift can be added where necessary.
The VS series can simulate conveying conditions for powders, granules, particles, tablets and capsules for customers in the food, pharmaceutical, chemical and coatings industries. A PPCVS 170 unit, built specifically for the…

A new method produces amines that are impractical or even impossible to make via conventional approaches and that hold particular promise for pharmaceuticals, claim its developers at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. The technique,…

Researchers in Australia have developed polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) membranes for reverse osmosis and nanofiltration that promise to simplify treatment of brackish and sea waters and, thus, save energy. The membranes obviate the need for the…

This Month’s Puzzler
We would like to increase the cooling water flow to a tower condenser (heat exchanger A in Figure 1) from 2,900 gpm to the exchanger nameplate rating of 4,500 gpm. A review of the files shows the heat exchangers and control…

New and cost-effective ways to ensure assets are performing and operational risks are minimized.

If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it a thousand times -- you can’t manage what you can’t measure. And how can you measure something you can’t easily see? The goal of asset management and the tools of the trade (enterprise asset management software among them) is to enable total visibility – in real time – to all your information so you can run more efficiently and grow more profitable. In a world where human assets are fewer, adopting new approaches to intelligently match limited resources with critical priorities is paramount.
Add to that the fact that the ISO 55000 Asset Management standard published last year by the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switz., sets realistic expectations for asset…

Many chemical makers must defuse a demographic time bomb as veteran engineers and operators approach retirement. Companies are pursuing a variety of strategies to bring replacements up to speed and ensure that a vast wealth of knowledge and…

Many chemical makers must defuse a demographic time bomb as veteran engineers and operators approach retirement. Companies are pursuing a variety of strategies to bring replacements up to speed and ensure that a vast wealth of knowledge and…

Administration calls for updating and simplifying various regulations and guidance documents

With little fanfare, on July 2, 2015, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Council on Environmental Quality issued a memorandum directing…

Administration calls for updating and simplifying various regulations and guidance documents

With little fanfare, on July 2, 2015, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Council on Environmental Quality issued a memorandum directing…

Intel Security Technologies will be included in Honeywell’s industrial cyber security solutions for process control.

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) and Intel Security will collaborate to help bolster protection of critical industrial infrastructure and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Intel Security’s McAfee technologies will be integrated with Honeywell’s Industrial Cyber Security Solutions, providing Honeywell customers with enhanced security software to protect their control systems from malware and misuse.
Honeywell's Industrial Cyber Security Solutions group has a dedicated global team of industrial cyber security experts that provide products, services and technologies to help protect industrial automation and control systems against cyber threats. The collaboration between Intel Security and HPS will combine advances in cyber…

Organizations that take a “felt leadership” approach to process safety management are making strides in the ongoing quest to improve process safety.

The best laid plans are just that – plans. Unless you have someone championing the plans it’s nothing more than a useless exercise. This is true with process safety and unfortunately lives have been lost because of it. To truly improve process safety management (PSM), the responsibility falls to senior executives. It’s a trickle-down effect that at the very least will improve performance and at the utmost will save lives. DuPont calls this “felt leadership” and starts with leaders improving and influencing decision-making across the board.
Once upper management is on board, you can get to the root of accidents. While it’s easy to place blame on operators, you must look at the whole picture not just the last few brush strokes.

On December 1, 2014, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) announced that its “Most Wanted Safety Improvement” is to modernize U.S. process safety management (PSM) regulations. Specifically, the CSB notes implementation of key federal and state…

Embrace a variety of strategies that can eliminate hazards from operations

Trevor Kletz was able to simplify the concept of inherent safety in such a way that everyone “gets it.” His mantra “What you don’t have can’t leak” is so clear and powerful that it has grabbed the attention of all stakeholders, including…

Downloadable software from the DOE can help junior engineers as well as experts.

Recently I spoke at a Chemical Processing Energy Efficiency webinar about valuable software tools offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools can be extremely helpful to engineers attempting to improve their plant’s energy…

Downloadable software from the DOE can help junior engineers as well as experts.

Recently I spoke at a Chemical Processing Energy Efficiency webinar about valuable software tools offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools can be extremely helpful to engineers attempting to improve their plant’s energy…

Downloadable software from the DOE can help junior engineers as well as experts.

Recently I spoke at a Chemical Processing Energy Efficiency webinar about valuable software tools offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools can be extremely helpful to engineers attempting to improve their plant’s energy…

This Month’s Puzzler
We would like to increase the cooling water flow to a tower condenser (heat exchanger A in Figure 1) from 2,900 gpm to the exchanger nameplate rating of 4,500 gpm. A review of the files shows the heat exchangers and control…

Downloadable software from the DOE can help junior engineers as well as experts.

Recently I spoke at a Chemical Processing Energy Efficiency webinar about valuable software tools offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These tools can be extremely helpful to engineers attempting to improve their plant’s energy…

Chemical Makers Think Small

Nanotechnology developments are advancing along a broad front.

"That input helps us to define what we need to aim for when we are developing next-generation catalysts," confirms Adarme.

Many new refineries outside the U.S. are designed for full-conversion hydrocracking to maximize diesel yields. And nanotechnology is playing a role in creating better catalysts. "… We have been working with the catalyst development teams to develop a new catalyst specifically for the second-stage service. We are in the process of commercializing this catalyst. The early indications are that it will unlock 6–7% more diesel from a two-stage hydrocracker compared with previous products," notes van Dijk.

"We have other approaches, too, for example in enhanced oil recovery. We use water for this and nanoparticles help us to tune the water for what is needed for each specific reservoir. We are also developing ways of using nanoparticles to relay information back from oil and gas reservoirs. So in the oil and gas industry we have used nanotechnology for many years, but we are really only at the start of the enormous potential that it has for us," Kapusta stresses.

MORE CATALYST INITIATIVESThe National Science Foundation (NSF), Arlington, Va., has added an extra three years and $12 million to its original commitment to the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. In addition, the center's roster of industrial partners has swelled from the original six to 27 — including Ashland, Chevron Phillips Chemical and DuPont.

The center focuses on using nanotechnology to find new catalysts for making chemicals from biorenewable resources. To this end, it has brought together researchers who specialize in both chemical and biological catalysts to develop sustainable technologies.

Researchers have made significant progress in designing catalysts for converting pyrones to high-value chemicals, notes Robert Davis, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., and head of the center's research into chemical catalyst design. The researchers also have developed technologies that convert carboxylic acids to alpha olefins used to make detergents and other chemicals, he adds.

Other researchers have used E. coli to produce the highest yields of carboxylic acids reported so far, says Jackie Shanks, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Iowa State, who heads the center's microbial metabolic engineering research efforts. The researchers also have improved the ability of E. coli to resist the toxicity of the acids, she adds.

Meanwhile, the European Union has awarded €4 million ($5.1 million) to a new research project to develop carbon materials to replace the precious metals needed in catalysis. The research aims to make the production of chemicals and commodities greener, while enabling the European process industry to keep its worldwide competitive edge.

The project is called "Freecats — doped carbon nanostructures as metal-free catalysts." Nine European research institutions and technology enterprises are working on the project, which is being coordinated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.

"Metal-free materials with catalysis properties that are equally as good as precious metals do not exist naturally, so Freecats is aimed at developing new materials. Using nanotechnology, with atoms as building blocks, we can build carbon structures capable of binding or transforming substances in desired ways," explains Magnus Rønning of the university's department of chemical engineering, who is leading the effort.

One of the three applications chosen for Freecats is the production of light olefins. Demand for these chemicals is increasing globally, but the current use of platinum-based catalysts isn't seen as sustainable because they suffer from low selectivity and short lives and also are costly and polluting.

MORE ADVANCESAction also is occuring in dendritic polymers or dendrimers. These are nanostructures that can be built atom-by-atom that hold great promise for applications in both biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Effectively they marry a drug to a "container" that's then delivered with extreme precision to patients, overcoming the more scattergun approach of traditional delivery systems.

Dow Chemical, Midland, Mich., which was awarded the world's first patents on dendrimers following their discovery in its research labs in 1979, reached an agreement with Starpharma Holdings, Melbourne, Australia, and Dendritic Nanotechnologies (DNT), Midland Mich., earlier this year. It provides the two with ownership or access to Dow's dendrimer patent portfolio. Now, Starpharma has granted AstraZeneca, London, rights to test certain proprietary Starpharma oncology molecules.

Meanwhile, Dow Europe, Zurich, Switzerland, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding last year, is working with the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano), Moscow, to identify potential areas of cooperation for large-scale projects in areas such as energy efficiency, lightweight materials and life sciences. (Rusnano was established by the Russian government in 2007 with the aim of helping the country achieve annual sales of nano-enabled products of 900 billion Rubles ($28.6 billion) by 2015.)

For its part, ExxonMobil Chemical, Houston, is using nanotechnology to improve tire innerliners. Made from the company's proprietary Exxcore dynamically vulcanized alloy resin, the advanced innerliners are as light and thin as a plastic bag and require up to 80% less material than conventional innerliners. That can mean a weight reduction of as much as seven pounds for a passenger car. Moreover, they boast leading-edge inflation pressure retention loss rates, which help the tires handle better and last longer. The lower loss rates also reduce rolling resistance, leading to improved vehicle fuel economy and a corresponding reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

ExxonMobil expects further nanotechnology developments to increase the amount of halobutyl rubber in its innerliner formulations — for even better air retention and performance.